This is a highly predictable movie, but exceedingly sweet, as Jenny McCarthy, a demographics-driven marketing expert goes back to take over the family business -- the Santa Claus operations for daddy, of course -- and discovers the true meaning of Christmas. The jokes are a little weak as elves stop work every seventeen minutes for cookie breaks and Ms. McCarthy is a little strident.
George Wendt is surprisingly good at producing a layered performance as Santa Claus. Everyone else falls into patterns that you would expect in a post-millennium movie in which Christmas is freed from all religious significance, but it has its moments and its charms.
George Wendt is surprisingly good at producing a layered performance as Santa Claus. Everyone else falls into patterns that you would expect in a post-millennium movie in which Christmas is freed from all religious significance, but it has its moments and its charms.